Beautiful Photos Of DC Cherry Blossoms

With the Washington Monument as a background, cherry blossoms slowly start to open around the Tidal Basin as a colder-than-normal March and chilly April has delayed the beginning of the cherry blossom season in the nation's capital April 3, 2013 (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off with an event on March 23 but the peak blossom time is still around the corner.

On April 1, it was not so picturesque at the Tidal Basin, but on April 3, Getty Images released photos of some blooms there (see some of the photos in the gallery above.) *

The gift of the trees arrived from Tokyo to D.C. in 1912. This year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is expected to bring about 1.2 million visitors to the nation's capital. They're expected to spend about $126 million, or $105 per person.

WUSA 9 will host the Cherry Blossom Parade on April 13, 2013 from noon to 2 p.m.

The Cherry Blossom Festival runs through April 14th.

Out at the Tidal Basin this week? We'd love for you to send us your photos of the cherry blossoms. Email your pictures to wusa-webproduction@wusa9.com or photos@wusa9.com. You can also tweet them to us @wusa9 or post them on our Facebook page.

*If you are using the iPad app, then click on the VIDEO button to view the gallery.